


After the Fall

by NotSoHappyCamper89



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Canon - Book & TV Combination, Changes will be explained in story, Dark Jon Snow, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm to lazy to tag it all, Lady Stoneheart - Freeform, Not Canon Compliant, OOC Character(s), Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Season/Series 08 Finale, so mystery, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24695704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotSoHappyCamper89/pseuds/NotSoHappyCamper89
Summary: Years after the Long Night, the Kingdom of Westeros has changed dramatically. Sansa sits on a Northern throne, Gendry "rules" the six kingdoms with Tyrion as his hand, Arya explores the world beyond the sea, and Jon Snow is nowhere to be found. But their threads are slowly woven together again as dark forces stir in both the North and South. A war forged out of ice and fire will redesign Westeros, as the past comes back to haunt the last war's victors.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	After the Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Right so I suck at keeping characters in character. I'm just naturally scatter brained like that, but I think I've re edited this enough that I've caught most of my rambling. Then again it is 3am. Anyways like I said I'm taking book elements and sorta adding them to the show canon in a sense, as well as rewriting events but for the most part that will all be explained. I mean I'm sure I'll miss something but here's hoping. But yeah all major changes will be addressed in speech or flashbacks or whatever but probably not immediately. So if your confused now I swear, in another chapter it'll make sense. Actually I'm not gonna swear but it should. The Jorah thing will definetly be explained at least.

_ “Eight guards, six archers, seven hunters.” _ Sansa sat in her throne, reexamining Lord Mormont’s words, trying to fathom the need. She had asked no simple task of him, that she knew, yet the extravagance of the expedition concerned her. The woman known as the Hangwoman, the Silent Sister, and Mother Merciless was an elusive creature, of that she was sure. Still, that silly naive girl inside, her Little Bird, clung to the memory of her mother. Chirped of auburn locks and a motherly grin that no longer existed. The Queen silenced such notions, for lamenting would not bring her back. Her focus needed to be on things that mattered, that she could effect. Things she wished she could control. _ “Ten guards, four bannermen, eight shield bearers, against one Lady Stoneheart. Why do I feel there should have been more?” _

Her thoughts were broken with a swift swing of the door, as Jorah entered with a few of his surviving party. The eerily familiar scene unnerved her for a moment, pulling her back to a night long forgotten. Though she didn’t show it. “My Queen.” Jorah knelt.

“Lord Mormont,” she stood and motioned for him to do the same. “I’m glad to see you’ve all returned safely.”

“Yes but not unscathed. Many of my men need tending to.”

“Of course, the maester and his students wait for their arrival. But Jorah...I need to see her.”

His jaw tightened while his back stiffened. She could almost hear his words before they came out. “My lady...Sansa...she is not the woman you once knew.”

“Nor am I.”

“It's more than that. What happened to her is unnatural.”

“Perhaps. But that doesn’t matter now Jorah. From what I’ve heard, she’s what I need her to be.” When Sansa first met her hand, he’d been someone else too. The confidant and friend of Daenerys Targaryen, and a disgraced bannerman of House Stark. It was long after his arrival that she saw what the Mother of Dragons did. It was only during the Last War that she realized his value. But that was many years ago, and now he knew her better than anyone. Better than most. Which meant he knew once she had a plan in motion, outlined the facts, thought everything through, there was little he could do. With a swift motion he brought forth the prisoner. 

A woman in chains and a tattered hood. White, dry hair hung out of its cloth and clammy wrinkled hands under the shackles. They knelt the woman in front of her but she did not speak, did not look up. Soldiers flanked their queen, others backed away in suspicion. ”Lord Hand, you may take your leave. You and the rest of your men should meet with the physician.”

“With all do respect my Queen, we intend to serve and defend, so until you settle your business here, we stand with you.” A small smile touches her lips before her eyes return to the figure. It was as if a brick layed heavily on her chest, the weight of reality too much to bare. She heard Jorah come to stand at her side, but looking at the person who was once her mother, she couldn’t see anything else. The whole thing seemed unreal, a nightmare in broad daylight. As the woman stood, her shackles clinking, the room seemed to get quieter. Till the hand broke it. “We found her and her band in the woods, your grace. Captured some, lost others, a few were slain. She took almost half my men. She doesn’t seem to speak, doubt with the gash she could much anyhow.Which, discounting the obvious, presents a major issues for your-”

“San...sa…” It was a choked noise, gargled, yet dry. Lady Stoneheart held the gash in her throat closed as she tried to take a few steps forward. The shield bearers put a stop to that, building a wall of steel between her and their patron. In her paled face, Sansa saw her heartbreaking and mustered all her strength to stand still, stiff, and strong. She’d seen what resurrection looks like, what it did to the minds of men, women, and more. Whatever this was, it wasn’t her mother, no matter how much she wanted it. 

Sansa gently pressed through the wall, holding a persona of poise and power. “We can have the Maester sew it up. Maybe even find a way to make speech more comfortable for you.” She waited for a response but got none. Stoneheart looked just as lost in thought as she. Vaguely she wondered if she inspired the same pride that Robb would’ve? Now was not the time. 

After a few moments, her mother closed the distance, sparking guards to react. Though Sansa waved them off. She needed to create trust, give her something. Or else she’d never agree to this, no matter who she was. Catelyn, what was left of her, pushed an auburn lock of Sansa’s back into place, a smile graced her face. “I- knew you’d- you’d make...a wonderful...queen.” The softness of the gesture, contrasted the harshness of her new appearance, and gave her daughter pause. Enough to momentarily crack her mask and alert her mother of her shock. 

“Perhaps you should see Maester Adien before we continue.” Jorah stepped forward, alarmed by the implication.

“Your grace, maybe we should be cautious about who we permit her around. He is the best physician in Winterfell, not to mention a good and kind man. And even then, given the current tension with the Wildlings getting another-”

“Was he a Lannister?”

“I don’t-”

“Did he serve under the Bolton banner, or the Frey?”

“No. I believe he is a true Northerner, through and through.”

“Then I don’t ‘believe’ he has anything to worry about, does he? Remove her chains. She won’t be needing them.” Jorah frowned, eyeing the slender figure. Even under the cloak, her petite physique was on complete display. She couldn’t have weighed much more than a hundred pounds. Whatever he had seen in those woods, clearly she lived up to the legend. “If it would ease your conscience, feel free to escort her. But I doubt that she’ll give you much trouble now that she knows who you are.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
  


When Sansa walked into the dining hall several hours later, she to her mother, washed and dressed, sitting with an almost Tully like air of elegance, she almost reconsidered. Her hair, well still different shades of grey and copper was neatly laid in a braid. Her dress was the emerald green and faded blues she had always favored in life. Her posture and demeanor, composed, calm, the picture of what the Lady of Winterfell should be. It almost made her forget about the bandages around her neck. 

Catelyn and Jorah, who seemed to have grown a bit more tolerant of her, were discussing the state of the kingdom. It was a casual discussion if not a bit strained, as well her mother’s voice had improved, it was clear the damage had been done. She approached the head of the table causing them to stand.

“Lord Mormont, I’m glad to see your worries have been eased.”

“Your mother is an amicable woman, your grace. So long as you don’t cross her that is.” Catelyn chuckled but even without the scratch to it, there was a sense of tension.

“Life has changed for me since this all began. Many who were my allies are now my enemies, and those who weren’t, well…” Sansa took the opportunity to step in.

“The world has changed so much since King Robert road here. No one is who they once were.” There was a shadowed look in her mother’s gaze when she met it. She could only imagine the things she had done. She wondered if this woman the once lady of Winterfell could fathom the things she had? Again, a question for another time. “Mother, I’m sure you have so much you want to say to me, and I too, but…” Tears had formed at the corner of the Hanged Woman’s eyes.

“Why have you brought me back here Sansa? You must’ve heard the stories, you must know what I’ve done, what I am.” Her already hoarse voice cracked and she struggled the more emotional she got. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but, you should have forgotten about me.” Her facade wasn’t cracking as much as it was melting. Peeling with each breath she took, how could she be the Queen with her mother? How could this thing be anything but? There were so many things she wanted to say, but not enough time to say them. Her mouth felt awkward and weak, her voice no better. Jorah reached to comfort his Queen by reassuringly holding her wrist, but that just made her want to let it out more.

“How could I leave you? How could I forget? You have no idea the things that have happened, the person I’ve become. Gods, there’s so many things I want to show you and tell you and...I just wouldn’t be a good Queen if I did it all now. But know this, whatever you are, whoever you are, you were my mother first. And there is nothing you could do to change that, alright? I’m just- I’m so sorry this couldn’t have come sooner, I didn’t know I didn’t-”

“I could have told you. Sought you out even, once I’d know. But I wasn’t, It just, it always seemed to be too good to be true. And if it wasn’t...I don’t know what I’d do if it wasn’t. After everything I had already done when I’d lost before.”

“I know, I understand that in so many ways I couldn’t even describe. But like I said, as much as I’d like, I can’t be your daughter right now. I have to be their Queen. Yours too, if you’ll have me.”

“I wouldn’t have accepted anyone else.” There was a sharp feeling in her chest upon hearing that. Gods she was so proud of her, so happy, even if that was clouded by guilt and anguish and possibly an unseen rage if she heard right.

“Mother, I- I don’t know how to ask this but...I need your help. And I don’t know of anyone who could possibly do it.”

“Me? Why, what could I really give you that knights or bannerman don’t already have?” There was a long pause that created an infectious discomfort among the trio.

“I need you to find someone for me.”

“Sansa, I’ve become many thing but a tracker is not-”

“That’s not the issue.”

“Then what is? Who would I be looking for?” After another pause, Catelyn seemed to grow irritated at the tension. “Sansa, WHO?”

“...I need you to find me Jon Snow.”


End file.
